Village News

This week, Garth Doerksen joined the team at Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV) as our new Assistant Curator. We are happy to have someone administratively gifted like Garth in this position. Recently, I asked Garth some questions so that you can get to know him better as we hope he will be here for many years.

Welcome to MHV Garth! What is your background growing up, education, previous work, etc?

Thank you! It’s great to join the MHV team!

I grew up in Blumenort, not far from here (MHV)and got an education degree at University of Manitoba. I met my wife, Mary-Anna, at university as well. She and I took teaching jobs in the Winkler area where we both taught for more than 30 years, until 2021. Throughout most of our time in Winkler, I was a school principal.

Where is your wife from?

The Whiteshell.

You don’t hear that very often.

No, you don’t. Her dad was the director at Camp Nutimik.

What attracted you to MHV and this role?

I’ve always had an interest in Mennonite history. It came mostly from my grandfather and father who were both very interested in it. In the early 1990s, I helped my grandfather compile a book of data on the scattered graves of the Kleine Gemeinde (EMC) here in the area. He and other members of the family have also donated items here (MHV).

Having lived across the river in Winkler, we still owned property here (Blumenort) which we had purchased from my grandfather in the 1990s. We always planned to retire back in Blumenort. So, working or volunteering here (MHV) one day was always in the back of my mind. It is a way of contributing to and commemorating our history. It is important to tell and know the stories of where we come from. If we have a better understanding of where we come from, we have a better understanding of how to live our lives today.. The Mennonite story is unique and is important to preserve.

Anything else we should know about you?

Delbert Plett (Mennonite historian) was my uncle and so his stories were often a part of family gatherings.

Also, about fifteen years ago, my niece, my brother, and I obtained a grant from the D.F. Plett Foundation to go to Haskell County, Kansas to study the history and archives of a group of Mennonites who moved there in the early 1900s. My great grandparents and grandparents were part of this small group who moved from the Blumenort area. Things were going well for them there but then the dirty thirties came. My great grandfather was needing to find farmland for his children, but when the dustbowl hit, there were some years where they didn’t even take the combines out as there was nothing to harvest. They then moved back to Blumenort where they bought a plot of stoney land which, years later, ended up becoming a productive gravel pit. BTW, Haskell County was the U.S. county hardest hit by the dustbowl years of the Great Depression.

Perhaps also of interest, Mary-Anna and I have travelled in more than 50 countries on 6 continents. We’ve focused primarily on developing countries throughout the world. Since most of Mary-Anna’s relatives live in the Netherlands and Germany, we’ve also spent time in Europe.

Did you see any of the Anabaptist sites in Europe?

We did. For example, we visited the Menno Simons memorial in Witmarsum, Netherlands as well as his hidden church there.

Thanks Garth, for your time. I hope our visitors and volunteers will give you a warm welcome the next time they see you at MHV!